Brian Forde/Pacific Daily News/bforde@guampdn.com Relief shipment: Joe Rios, Matson Navigation Company sales and customer service manager, arranges emergency relief supplies in a shipping container yesterday bound for the outer islands of Yap state in the Federated States of Micronesia. The islands were devastated by last month's Typhoon Lupit. HOW TO HELP To donate or help, call: Micronesian Divers Association: 472-6324 Ayuda Foundation: 473-3003 Joseph Edhlund at Marianas Vet Care: 734-6341 Salvation Army: 477-9872

Local businesses and organizations continue to send relief goods to the storm-ravaged islands of the Federated States of Micronesia, while officials there wait for federal assistance to be approved.

FSM officials have asked President Bush to declare regions of Chuuk and Yap states a major disaster area, which would make federal aid available to help recovery efforts there.

Typhoon Lupit whirled through the islands last month, causing storm surges that resulted in massive crop damage and salt-contaminated wells on several of Yap's outer islands and some of the northern islands of Chuuk state.

As a Federal Emergency Management Agency team assesses the damage there, federal officials in Washington, D.C., continue to review the FSM's request for an emergency declaration, FEMA's Pacific Office Director Woody Goins said yesterday.

The Salvation Army Corps coordinated a shipment of donations heading out today. Sgt. Major Wayne Gillespie said the Corps received 500 cases of water from regional businessman Lucio Tan, and Triple J Five Star Wholesale distributing company donated 200 cases of bottled water.

The Salvation Army also received about $10,000 worth of seeds donated from the U.S. mainland. Gillespie said the seeds are squash, pumpkin, zucchini and lettuce, among other crop foods.

Shipping companies Matson Navigation Company and Japan's Kambara Kisen Co. are helping by sending two containers of food, drinking water, and plant seeds today for residents of Yap's outer islands.

The shipment is the latest in relief assistance to those islands.

Other donations have been collected through the coordination of the Ayuda Foundation, Micronesian Divers Association and Sky Blue Air.

Louis Rama, a staff member from the FSM Consulate Office on Guam, said typhoon relief efforts at the outer islands are slow but ongoing.

"We were told that Ulithi has had their telephone system repaired.The recovery is moving slowly for the islands, but it is moving along, he said. "I know a lot of families are hoping for things to get back to normal by Christmas time," he said.

Originally published Saturday, December 13, 2003